14th Empire Awards


The 14th Empire Awards ceremony, presented by the British film magazine Empire, honored the best films of 2008 and took place on 29 March 2009 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. During the ceremony, Empire presented Empire Awards in 12 categories as well as four honorary awards. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Empire magazine a special honorary award was presented, the Actor of our Lifetime and to mark the loss of Heath Ledger, he was awarded the special honorary Heath Ledger Tribute Award. The Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award was renamed to "Best Soundtrack" and the Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy award was renamed this year only to "Best Sci-Fi/Superhero". The Best Newcomer and Best Soundtrack awards were presented for the last time. Irish comedian Dara Ó Briain hosted the show for the first time. The awards were sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey for the first time.
The Dark Knight won the most awards with three including Best Film and Best Director for Christopher Nolan. Other winners included Eden Lake, Mamma Mia!, Quantum of Solace, RocknRolla, Son of Rambow, and Wanted with one. Viggo Mortensen received the Empire Icon Award, Danny Boyle received the Outstanding Contribution to British Film award, Russell Crowe received the Actor of our Lifetime award and Heath Ledger received a special post-mortem tribute. Stephen Power and Conal O'Meara from the United Kingdom won the Done In 60 Seconds Award for their 60-second film version of Jerry Maguire.

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface. The shortlisted nominees were revealed on 2 March 2009 and finale voting ended on 12 March 2009.

  • RocknRolla
  • * Eden Lake
  • * Hunger
  • * In Bruges
  • * Son of Rambow
  • Christopher Nolan — The Dark Knight
  • * Andrew Stanton — WALL-E
  • * Joel and Ethan Coen — No Country for Old Men
  • * Paul Thomas Anderson — There Will Be Blood
  • * Tim Burton — '
  • Christian Bale — The Dark Knight
  • * Daniel Craig — Quantum of Solace
  • * Daniel Day-Lewis — There Will Be Blood
  • * Johnny Depp — '
  • * Robert Downey Jr. — Iron Man
  • Helena Bonham Carter —
  • * Angelina Jolie — Changeling
  • * Ellen Page — Juno
  • * Olga Kurylenko — Quantum of Solace
  • * Sally Hawkins — Happy-Go-Lucky
  • Son of Rambow
  • * Burn After Reading
  • * Ghost Town
  • * In Bruges
  • * Tropic Thunder
  • Eden Lake
  • * The Mist
  • * The Orphanage
  • * The Strangers
  • * '
  • Wanted
  • * '
  • * Iron Man
  • * The Dark Knight
  • * WALL-E
  • Quantum of Solace
  • * Changeling
  • * Eagle Eye
  • * Gone Baby Gone
  • * No Country for Old Men
  • Gemma Arterton
  • * Hayley Atwell
  • * Jim Sturgess
  • * Robert Pattinson
  • * Toby Kebbell
  • Mamma Mia!
  • * Quantum of Solace
  • * RocknRolla
  • * '
  • * There Will Be Blood
  • United Kingdom: Jerry Maguire by Stephen Power & Conal O'Meara
    • Finalists:
    • * United Kingdom: Cloverfield by Ewan Smith
    • * United Kingdom: Pearl Harbor by Mark Wong
    • * United Kingdom: Se7en by Ewan Warburton
    • * United Kingdom: The Dark Knight by Steven Seller
    The other shortlisted films:
    • * United Kingdom: American Psycho by Mike Doxford
    • * United Kingdom: Forrest Gump by Unknown director
    • * United Kingdom: Requiem for a Dream by Charlie Lyne
    • * United Kingdom: Reservoir Dogs by Harry Lindley
    • * United Kingdom: Terminator 2: Judgment Minute by Katie Child
    • * United Kingdom: The Fugitive by Martin Selby & Tom Marshall
    • * United Kingdom: WALL-E by Melanie Keyzor
  • Empire Icon Award: Viggo Mortensen
  • Outstanding Contribution to British Film: Danny Boyle
  • Actor of our Lifetime: Russell Crowe
  • Heath Ledger Tribute: A special tribute award was dedicated to acknowledge the outstanding work of Heath Ledger.'''

    • Multiple awards

    The following film received multiple awards:
    AwardsFilm
    3The Dark Knight

    Multiple nominations

    The following 12 films received multiple nominations:
    NominationsFilm
    5
    4Quantum of Solace
    4The Dark Knight
    4There Will Be Blood
    3Iron Man
    3No Country for Old Men
    3WALL-E
    2Changeling
    2Eden Lake
    2In Bruges
    2RocknRolla
    2Son of Rambow

    Done In 60 Seconds films